Air

Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

Topic Subtitle
Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

States Eye EPA Talks To Boost Support For Vehicle Inspection Programs

State and local air regulators are planning to meet with EPA policymakers next month to discuss ways to boost support for vehicle inspection/maintenance (I/M) programs, which have been increasingly targeted by Midwestern state legislators because of the politically unpopular requirement for vehicle owners to test -- and possibly repair -- their automobiles' emissions systems. "We have been seeking support from EPA on a national basis to reaffirm the importance of I/M and to fend off attacks," says a state official...

GOVERNOR'S BIOMASS ORDER PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON ARB RESPONSE ACTION

Air board officials are under pressure to draw up actions to bolster biofuels use in the state, following the governor's executive order this week setting in-state biofuels production goals in the face of soaring gasoline prices. The air board and other state agencies targeted in the executive order are expected to submit a detailed action plan early next month that may include administrative, regulatory and legislative proposals to increase biomass use for transportation fuels and electricity generation. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's...

AIR DISTRICTS CHALLENGE LEGISLATION HIKING POLLUTION FINES

A controversial bill that would hike fines on stationary sources that violate air pollution rules is drawing fire from air districts, which claim the measure's plan for allocating penalty funds could harm their ability to operate key programs. Air district opposition could prove a substantial hurdle for the legislation, and the measure may have to be significantly amended, according to sources. The state's major industry groups also oppose the measure, SB 1205 (Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier), claiming the fines are...

CLIMATE BILL BACKERS SEEK TO ALLAY FEARS OVER REGISTRY'S FUTURE

Sponsors of controversial Assembly legislation to set a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cap on multiple industry sectors are attempting to calm major stakeholder fears that the bill jeopardizes the state's five-year-old voluntary GHG reporting registry. The uncertainty over the registry's future is increasing anxiety among some participants that their early voluntary reporting efforts may not be acknowledged in a future mandatory state program, or that a state scheme may upset reporting and verification procedures they have used for the registry...

ENVIRONMENTALISTS RIP SAN JOAQUIN REQUEST FOR PM10 ATTAINMENT

Environmentalists are blasting a San Joaquin Valley air district request this week to the air board to seek U.S. EPA approval that it is in attainment with a federal particulate matter (PM) standard. Environmentalists claim the district is not accurately conveying the valley's air quality data. EPA's determination is significant because it could mean the difference between the district maintaining current emission standards on stationary sources, or being forced to adopt more stringent measures. Environmentalists fear a decision to grant...

EPA FIGHTING STATE ADOPTION OF STRICT MERCURY CONTROL REGULATIONS

EPA officials are taking a series of steps designed to stop Pennsylvania and other states from enacting strict mercury control plans that bar credit trading and impose steeper emissions reduction requirements than EPA's controversial regulation. Agency officials earlier this week testified before a Pennsylvania Senate panel in favor of a state bill that would block the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from finalizing its own mercury rule, and instead require regulators to adopt EPA's rule. EPA officials are also...

CONTROVERSIAL RAIL STUDY FACES CHALLENGE IN NOVEL NEPA CLIMATE SUIT

Environmentalists and landowners are challenging a new government review of the air quality impacts of a proposed railroad project that could provide lower-priced coal to Midwestern power plants, charging that the review flouts a landmark appellate ruling requiring the government to consider the project's greenhouse gas impacts. The Sierra Club and the Mid States Coalition for Progress, a group representing local landowners, say in an April 14 petition filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit that...

ACTIVISTS FAIL TO CONVINCE CHAFEE TO OPPOSE EPA AIR CHIEF'S NOMINATION

Environmental groups failed in their last-minute lobbying of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) to oppose the nomination of William Wehrum to head EPA's air office, after Chafee joined the majority in a 10-8 Senate environment committee vote approving the nominee. The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) approved Wehrum's nomination April 26 in a party-line vote, despite lobbying by the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and others to convince the senator to oppose the nomination, which would have...

AGRICULTURE SECTOR FORMS LOBBYING GROUP TO PUSH CAFO EXEMPTION BILLS

Major agricultural industry groups have formed a new lobbying coalition called Farmers for Clean Air and Water to press Congress to exempt large farming operations from reporting and other requirements under the Superfund law and Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), according to industry and congressional sources. The group has hired a lobbying firm headed by former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingstone (R-LA) to lobby on their behalf. The industry recently formalized the coalition, which had previously existed...

BILL BLOCKING STRICT STATE AIR RULES FAILING TO WIN BROAD BACKING

A model bill drafted by a group of conservative state lawmakers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which would block states from implementing rules requiring power plants to make pollution reductions steeper than EPA's clean air interstate rule (CAIR) is failing to gain traction, an ALEC source says. But the source adds that legislative bodies realistically have until later this year to pass such legislation because state environment departments do not need to send their CAIR plans to EPA until...

EPA FACES DIM PROSPECTS WINNING FUNDING BOOST AS HOUSE ACTION NEARS

House sources from both parties are casting dim prospects on whether the chamber will be able to restore major cuts the Bush administration is proposing for EPA in fiscal year 2007, as a key House panel prepares to mark up the agency's funding bill as soon as next week. "It's just an average year -- not as good as last year but better than next year," says one Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. The House interior, environment and related...

EPA BACKS NEW LEAK DETECTION PLAN TO LOWER COSTS, BOOST DISCLOSURE

EPA is proposing to allow a first-time alternative to already-approved equipment for detecting leaks and fugitive emissions at industrial facilities such as chemical plants and refineries, a technology stakeholders say could make it easier and cheaper to find leaks contributing to air pollution, which some claim is an area of widespread noncompliance. The issue of fugitive emissions, which can include emissions occurring when facilities start up, shut down and malfunction (SSM), has been controversial recently, with environmentalists vowing to challenge...

STATES EYE EPA TALKS TO BOOST SUPPORT FOR VEHICLE INSPECTION PROGRAMS

State and local air regulators are planning to meet with EPA policymakers next month to discuss ways to boost support for vehicle inspection/maintenance (I/M) programs, which have been increasingly targeted by Midwestern state legislators because of the politically unpopular requirement for vehicle owners to test -- and possibly repair -- their automobiles' emissions systems. "We have been seeking support from EPA on a national basis to reaffirm the importance of I/M and to fend off attacks," says a state official...

CARPER TO CUT MERCURY TRADING FROM UPCOMING UTILITY EMISSIONS BILL

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) will prohibit any emissions credit trading for utilities to meet strict mercury pollution limits in legislation he intends to reintroduce soon, which will also contain revised targets and timetables for mercury and other pollutants, according to a source in Carper's office. Carper, lead sponsor of a legislative alternative to the Bush administration's Clear Skies proposal, will propose to mandate 90 percent mercury reductions from power plants by 2015, and prohibit any cap-and-trade program that would allow...

Despite Limited Push, DOD Likely To Continue Introducing Exemptions Bill

Despite the military's limited bid to win passage of proposed exemptions to environmental rules in upcoming defense authorization legislation, the Defense Department is expected to continue introducing legislation in future years because it wants to maintain the appearance that the legislation is necessary, a House source says. The House Armed Services readiness subcommittee April 27 declined to include DOD's controversial package of exemptions to environmental rules in the fiscal year 2007 defense bill, a development that the panel's chairman, Rep...

Boehlert Vows To Seek House Vote To Boost Fuel Economy Rules

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), the retiring chairman of the House Science Committee, is vowing to seek a vote on the House floor later this year on a measure tightening fuel economy rules, predicting that the measure will pass as part of a package of energy legislation intended to address high gas prices. Boehlert made the comments April 26 at a media breakfast where he noted that members are telling him privately that they would change their earlier votes and support...

Activists Fail To Convince Chafee To Oppose EPA Air Chief's Nomination

Environmental groups have failed in their last-minute lobbying of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) to oppose the nomination of William Wehrum to head EPA's air office, after Chafee joined the majority in a 10-8 Senate environment committee vote approving the nominee. The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) approved Wehrum's nomination April 26 in a party-line vote, despite lobbying by the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and others to convince the senator to oppose the nomination, a move...

Industry Group Seeks Credit For Oil Projects In State Climate Plan

An oil and gas industry group will urge Northeast states implementing a regional climate initiative to recognize carbon dioxide (CO2) injection during enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects as an activity that generates emissions credits toward power plant emissions reduction obligations -- an effort that industry sources say could be influenced by a parallel debate occurring at the international level. The push to recognize CO2 injection during EOR comes in the wake of a draft model rule for implementing the Northeast's...

Mercury Ruling May Bolster Broad Efforts To Force FOIA Disclosures

A recent court ruling requiring EPA to turn over computer modeling for its mercury emissions rule could bolster industry and government watchdog efforts under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to seek information on federal agency decisionmaking and could prompt industry to intervene against EPA if the agency appeals the decision. Agency officials declined to speculate on possibilities for appealing the ruling, but a source with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says the group would consider intervening in court in...

Activists Lobby Sen. Chafee To Block EPA Air Chief In Environment Panel

On the eve of a Senate environment committee vote on William Wehrum to head EPA's air office, environmental groups are actively lobbying Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) to vote against the nomination to produce a 9-9 tie in the committee that would prevent Wehrum's nomination from getting to the floor. If environmentalists succeed, it could further undermine Wehrum's nomination, which Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) has already said would likely have to be secured with a recess appointment from President Bush because...

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